


running down the icy streets; chasing down the summer

by detectivemeer



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Melancholy, Non-Linear Narrative, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23626195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivemeer/pseuds/detectivemeer
Summary: Derek knows love like fire knows living.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Scott McCall
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19





	running down the icy streets; chasing down the summer

1

The day they meet, Derek feels the ground shift beneath him.

2

Yellow dawn. The stink of blood doesn’t wash away, but maybe it will dry when the sun climbs high enough.

Scott scrubs at his arms with wet wipes. They flutter to the ground, one by one, rusted red-brown and collecting in a small pile by his feet. The sight stills Derek. It’s so vulnerable. True Alpha standing in the nascent rays of the sun, trying to wipe the blood off.

Derek moves forward when Scott crouches down, scooping up the dirty, damp cloths. Scott crushes them into a small ball and stuffs them in the front pocket of his backpack.

“I have to buy them in bulk, you know,” he says, like the beginning of an unfunny joke.

Derek doesn’t look at the red-brown crust under Scott’s soft, human fingernails or the tremble of his hands. He says, “Go home, Scott,” and wishes for words that will never come.

3

Scott laughs, the first time. The kiss is too fast to feel. Scott’s fingertips bump against Derek’s face, uncertain.

Derek grins, nudges their noses together.

Scott laughs and laughs. Fireworks split open the sky. “See,” says Scott, eyes alight, “told you.”

4

Scott’s reading off handwritten recipe cards. Smudged ink, creased corners. His brow is wrinkled, his mouth drawn in with focus. He chops potatoes clumsily and triple checks each instruction before moving on.

Derek wants to marry him. What an impossible thought. Derek wants lots of things. He wants to kiss one of Scott’s fingernails; just one. He wants to unhinge his jaw and devour Scott in a single bite; just one. Derek’s wants are carnivorous and multiply with each smile and touch Scott tosses him.

5

“Happy New Year!” Kira blows on a plastic kazoo and sways happily between Lydia and Malia, an arm hooked around each of their shoulders. She kisses both of their cheeks, once and then again, and they sigh, roll their eyes, grinning.

“Midnight isn’t for hours,” says Lydia.

“So,” says Kira, “I’m practicing--you only get your first kiss of the new year once.”

Malia leans forward to catch Lydia’s stare. “Maybe we’ll just kiss each other.”

Kira frowns, says, “Oh.” And then beams when they both turn their head to kiss her cheeks at the same time.

“Who’s gonna be yours?” Scott asks, wiggling his brows.

Derek smiles down at him. “I’m not big on this tradition.”

“What?” Scott gapes. “No, no, no. Everyone needs a new year’s kiss.”

6

Scott smiles. “I’m fine.”

Derek says, “You’re hurt.”

“I’ll heal.”

Devotion. A bullet in a chamber. What he doesn’t say: the things I would do for you. What he doesn’t say: the things I’ve already done.

7

Scott’s balance is off, so he leans against Derek, all heat and cinnamon scent. Sweat, alcohol, Scott.

His hands press against Derek’s chest. “There you are!” His eyes are bright, smile wide and easy. “It’s almost time.”

“Don’t you want to kiss someone you could go home with?” asks Derek, amused. It’s simple to laugh; his heart is stretched like silly-putty. He feels suspended in this moment, Scott staring up at him with everything he wants to see.

“I’d rather kiss someone I like.”

The countdown shouts around them bellow, every beat drawing them closer and closer, until Scott’s smile presses against his own and they are together, finally, at once, lips, eyelashes, touching. The breath of Scott his whole universe for a simple, single, gorgeous second of time.

8

How did he do it? How did he take all the hate and anger and pain and pull it inside out--turn his fear into strength, drag his hope out of weakness? Magic boy. Not the claws, not his speed--not the color of his eyes--something too subtle to be seen. Golden light in the dark, a feeling, an urge--guiding those around him to goodness.

His eyes, brown as earth, giving someone the power to save themselves.

9

Braeden calls him _coward_ , and she’s right. Braeden is always right, not that he’ll tell her. _Coward_.

Scott’s a man, Scott’s a werewolf. Scott has responsibilities, friends, a wild tapestry of life. Derek doesn’t fit into the whole picture, that’s not who he is. But he can slip between the cracks. He gets a softer Scott; Scott in the mornings, Scott in a closed-door room where no one asks anything of him. Weekend Scott and too tired to keep up the pretense Scott. Falling asleep on Derek's shoulder and meeting Derek's eyes across a crowded room, saying everything without words. Late nights spread over maps and coffee mugs ringed in stains, tracking progress. Falling into each other, again and again, with a laugh, a dart of eyes, a quiet sigh. Scott in those little moments of peace between battle, when he's allowed to fall apart, when Derek helps the pieces come back together. He gets the real Scott, with his Clark Kent hair and honeyed smiles, in-between pockets of reality.

Still, in the end, this is all he gets.

10

“Scott I,” he says, and he pauses for a moment of cowardice and wishes pile river-deep in his throat and then before his brain can convince him not to, he says, “I love you.”

Scott’s face shutters. Green, blue, red light breaks across his features. The fireworks shatter and shower him in color. “Derek,” he says, a little hurt, a little pleading. Well. That answers that question.

“Okay,” says Derek, “it’s okay. Yeah, it’s. It’s okay. Just had to say it.”

Scott reaches out. His touch is soft, the back of Derek’s hand warm with it. There is so much sorrow in those beautiful eyes.

11

Derek knows love like fire knows living. And here they are. Here they are.

Scott gets married, because he’s Scott, he was built for the American Dream. For spouses and kids and white picket fences. Justice, truth, apple pie. Happiness--all that shit. Derek’s at the wedding, because he’s Derek. Because sometimes you’re cast to be the could have been, the past he can gaze to and be glad to have grown. Because the hand he was dealt is this: falling in love hurts, losing love hurts, living hurts. But it can hurt less, seeing him smile. Even when you’re burning, oxygen is sweet.

**Author's Note:**

> title from winter song by caesars
> 
> sometimes love is sharing a beat up baseball cap that says scott mccall fanclub president with another fictional character & i think thats b e a utiful
> 
> im just a girl in quarantine deep in her feels about scott mccall and how derek is the only person who maybe loved him as much as me. anyway wash your hands!! stay safe <3


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